23. Childhood Trauma From Growing Up In A Religious Cult.
Dear Little Me
Dawn Chitty
4.8 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 5 April 2021
⏱️ 64 minutes
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Summary
How Do You Survive A Cult?
Between the ages of 0 - 5 years we are absorbing everything. Like a sponge. We are 'trained' by the world around us to take on the same beliefs, understandings, ideas as our caregivers. The way we do life is learnt and assimilated. And if we grow up in an extremely religious environment, this way is our normal. It's the only world we know. Luis grew up in the Jehova's Witness faith. He didn't celebrate birthdays, holidays or halloween. He wasn't allowed to mix with kids who were not Witnesses. And as a very young child he would preach to kids at school about how celebrating halloween would send them all to armageddon, because this was what he knew to be true. The fear and control around a young life within a strict religion is unbearable. And when you realise that something completely forbidden by the church, being gay, is who you are, what happens then? I am chatting with Luis this week and he gives a deep insight into growing up in a religious cult and how damaging it can be. How do you move on and create a life for yourself which is nothing like the one your parents expected for you?
Luis recommends A Child Called It https://amzn.to/3ubNikp and Toxic Parents https://amzn.to/3wabZzc
You can find Luis on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thescreenkid/ YouTube https://youtu.be/1Pub8yvCVrQ
IMDB https://m.imdb.com/name/nm2215083/?ref_=m_ttfcd_wr2
If you have a story to share for this podcast please connect with me at www.instagram.com/mybigloveproject or send an email to bigloveproject@iinet.net.au. I would LOVE! to connect with you.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I guess when I was younger, I had this kind of zealot mentality. I remember kind of being kind of |
| 0:07.5 | preachy in kindergarten telling the kids that they were going to all die in Armageddon because |
| 0:12.9 | that's what I knew. If they celebrated Halloween, I remember there was this Halloween party that |
| 0:18.4 | my parents were pretty careful about not exposing me to that kind of thing at school. At a young age, |
| 0:23.2 | they would pull me on a class or whatever. So I wouldn't be exposed to it, but there was a couple |
| 0:27.5 | of times teachers would have a surprise holiday party and I would be unfiltered and speak my mind. |
| 0:33.2 | So I remember kind of standing out that way and telling kids, scaring them that they would burn |
| 0:38.0 | in Armageddon and getting my parents being upset like you can't do that. You can't |
| 0:44.4 | share your faith as wildly like that at school. |
| 0:48.0 | Welcome to how my parents raised me, I'm Dawn Chitty. When we are born, we arrive here as pure |
| 1:00.6 | and perfect souls and the direction our life takes from that moment is deeply connected to what |
| 1:07.7 | our parents bring to our lives and what our parents bring to our lives is deeply connected to what |
| 1:14.7 | their parents brought to their lives and that's the cycle of families. I have always craved |
| 1:22.1 | connection with real and raw stories to understand what makes you you, what makes you the absolutely |
| 1:30.9 | unique human that you are. Stories are medicine for the soul, they can connect us and they can change |
| 1:39.9 | the world and so in this podcast, I'm listening to beautiful souls sharing their story, |
| 1:46.8 | what happened to them, how they got through and how they have healed and thrived despite everything |
| 1:53.9 | to arrive right here in this moment. Content warning, if you are triggered by the themes of this |
| 2:01.7 | podcast, please seek a help line in your city. Hey beautiful souls, you know when I was a little kid, |
| 2:12.8 | I went to Sunday school every Sunday, I'd get up and I'd brush my hair and put on a smart |
| 2:17.6 | dress and shoes and I'd go and spend a couple of hours at the church hall with my sister and all |
| 2:23.2 | the other kids. We'd sing and we'd learn stories of the Bible and we do art and craft. My parents |
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